Building blocks: Alphabet

One of the first things to do is get the foundation of the language. The alphabet.

Some letters have English equivalents, but many of the letters use different symbols and are in a different order.

I've printed the image under 'Greek alphabet - Modern pronunciation' on this site:

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/greek.htm

and keep it with me to practise the order of the alphabet.

I also play this over and over to get the pronunciation. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvoNr0s5gec

Practise reciting the names of the letters and their sounds as well as writing them.

Recognise and also practise hand-written letters as these can look quite different the type.

http://ellinikasimera.dartmouth.edu/resources/texts/shapes1.html

Beginning the journey

Having been to Greece on holiday (it is my favourite holiday destination) on numerous occasions, I have picked up some words and phrases but certainly not enought to survive.  

It is my dream to take a few months in a summer and island-hop in my own boat, staying in remote little villages on the islands and communicating with the locals fluently. This is going to require learning the language.

Another reason that I think learning Greek is beneficial, for everyone not just for my holidaying pleasure, is to help us improve our English. There are a great many words that are directly Greek or influenced by Greek through Latin and French.

Here is an interesting list of Greek words commonly used in English.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/petridis/wordsgr.htm

Finally learning a new language works our brains and makes us smarter.

Whatever your motivation I hope that we can overcome the expected troubled waters of learning a new language.